Let's Look At This Totally Sexist Board Game From The 1960s

What Shall I Be? The Exciting Game Of Career Girls.

If you want a successful career you'd better sharpen up those sloppy makeup skills ladies!

"What Shall I Be?: The Exciting Game Of Career Girls" was introduced in 1966 by the Selchow & Righter Company, famous for manufacturing Scrabble.

The Career Girls game was a board game 'celebrating' the fabulous career opportunities available for women. Young girls could only dream to enter one of six professions deemed suitable for females.

Teacher

Airline Hostess

Actress

Nurse

Model

Ballet Dancer

Boardgame Geek
Don't even think about being a ballerina if you're a slow thinker.

Boardgame Geek
Being an airline hostess is great, but you shouldn't apply for the job if you're clumsy.

The purpose of the game is to become the first lady to become a Career Girl. It's pretty simple. You move around the board as you collect School Cards, Subject Cards and Personality Cards.

Boardgame Geek
You might be a nurse. But only if you don't get too excited.

Boardgame Geek
If you're lucky and your makeup skills are terrific, you could be an actress

But, be prepared to get insulted along the way. Brace yourself. You might be called overweight, which means you cannot be a model, airline hostess or a ballerina. In fact, if you've packed on the weight it means that you are unsuitable for 50 per cent of the fabulous careers on offer!

Boardgame Geek
This is the worst button you could choose. The worst! It means half the careers on offer are not for you.

You might choose a button accusing you of being a slow thinker – that's no good if you want to be a nurse or an airline hostess. You might even be called clumsy – devastating news if you dream of being an airline hostess, model, nurse or a ballet dancer. Give up. You'll never make it!

On the up side, you could get lucky and pick a complimentary card. 'You Are Pretty.' This is good for being...wait for it....a model!

Boardgame Geek
You get to choose these buttons which let you know which career you are unfit for. The worst button to pick is the overweight one. But there's not much hope if you get 'too excited' either.

The game only ends when you've collected four School Cards of one Profession and two Subject Cards, plus two Personality Cards that are the right match for that Profession.

We are not sure how popular this game was in the 1960s but, seeing as a fresh version was created in the 1970s, we can guess there must have been a market for it.

Perhaps, ladies played the game with tongues firmly in cheeks? Let's hope nobody felt too deflated after learning that their 'sloppy makeup skills' meant they'd never be an airhostess or a model.

Surely, it was all a bit of fun. I mean, nobody really sets out to destroy a girl's dreams, do they? We can't wait to see if there was a version for boys!